Garmins and Stravas and Cadence Sensors Oh My!

I'm starting to accumulate gadgets and sensors and I have a slew of apps for the purpose of ride tracking and there seems to be a gigantic overlap in capability causing a lot of redundancy and more headaches regarding data processing. I'd like to have a discussion with everyone about what gadgets and apps they use and how to best navigate the myriad of apps we're probably all subscribed to.

The real impetus for me starting this thread is that I just purchased a Garmin 820 and after two rides I want to throw it off a bridge. I've had my Garmin Fenix 3 watch for a couple years now and I really like it, it's simple, functional, and syncs fairly well with the Garmin connect app and Strava. The one thing missing was a heads up map display for plotting new routes, hence the 820. I got the bundle with the speed and cadence sensors and I’m completely satisfied with those. To go with the 820 I set up ridewithGPS, as one does. Now I'm managing two Garmin devices that are competing to sync to the connect app, which they don't do so seamlessly. Using the 820 doesn’t update intensity minutes, and unless I simultaneously run the Fenix and the 820 my watch won’t update intensity minutes, miles, or calories burned. In the connect app the 820 only uploads the ride but not the intensity minutes or calories. Do I really have to operate them redundantly then delete the ride that uploads from the watch? Is there a better workflow or some hidden setting I need to update?

On top of the integration issues, the touch screen on the 820 is trash, and there is a serious bug in the route navigation that I’m sure many of you know about. For those that haven’t had the pleasure of going off route with the 820 I’ll explain how useless this device really is. I learned this by not properly parsing my route before uploading it to the 820 and going for a ride (my bad on that, but the way the GPS handled it is completely insane). I had meant my route to make a right at the intersection, but there happened to be a road that cuts the corner and my route in ridewithGPS chose that as the shortest path. I didn’t realize this and continued on my intended route missing the shortcut. The device for the rest of my ride told me to go back to the point I went off course, even though I was back on the course. The turn by turn navigation was thrown off and I had to rely on the overview of the route without timely nav prompts, meaning I couldn’t stay on any of the other data screens unless I was sure of the route at the given time. This should be a simple fix with a software update but Garmin seems to not care, maybe it’ll be addressed soon.

Back to the apps, I’m using my Garmin Connect, Strava, and ridewithGPS. Which one is the best for data analysis? Must we use them all for their respective strengths? Does anyone have suggestions for a workflow that they’ve found to be the least buggy? It seems that they all have their own data interpolations and I notice differences in speeds, calories, elevation, distance traveled, etc. Which one does everyone trust the most? I’m inclined to believing the Garmin connect because that’s the first point the data is being input to and processed by. Does Strava take the same raw data and process it differently or does it post process the Garmin output?

I’m pretty sure I’m going to return the 820 and use that Fenix for route planning, I was told you can upload gpx files to the watch to get turn by turn. I’m sure a lot of you out there use your phones and Strava as a heads up but I’m concerned with phone battery life. I’ve used my phone to gps while riding and it dies after around 4 hours. I want to be able to keep my phone alive in case of emergencies, accidents, mechanical issues etc. Is there a way to run Strava or a saved map on the phone while on airplane mode with GPS activated to conserve battery?

Sorry for the lengthy post but there are just so many apps, sensors, devices that we all use and navigating them and streamlining the process is proving to be pretty complex. I’d love to hear from everyone about what they’ve found to work the best, hopefully we can all learn a few tricks to managing all the tech we keep strapping to our bikes and bodies!